{"id":164107,"date":"2022-11-20T16:22:09","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T21:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=164107"},"modified":"2022-11-20T16:22:09","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T06:33:55","slug":"will-oberscharfuhrer-franz-staudegger-and-the-origins-of-the-tiger-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/will-oberscharfuhrer-franz-staudegger-and-the-origins-of-the-tiger-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Oberscharf\u00fchrer Franz Staudegger and the Origins of the Tiger Legend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
This is Heinz Guderian, the mastermind behind the German Blitzkrieg, or Lightning War. Once unleashed, war frequently takes on a life of its own.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

War is like some kind of horrible sentient thing. Troops and units move back and forth across the battlefield engaging and killing under the direction of commanders ranging from squad leaders up to theater-level Generals. The result is the summation of literally countless little dramas. It is marginally-controlled chaos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Amidst the chaos of combat, rumor can become dogma.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During expansive conflict, information flows like a river. Intelligence reports go up, and commands come down. Throughout it all, rumors and innuendo add seasoning. Eventually, information congeals into prevailing sentiment. Sometimes that sentiment is accurate. Sometimes it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The German Tiger tank was one of the most feared weapons of World War 2.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

During World War 2 the German Tiger tank earned an outsized reputation among those who faced it. German propaganda lit the fire, but somber tales whispered among warriors provided the kerosene. The result was a legend that, like most legends, was a synergistic combination of fact and imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
For those Allied troops who faced German armored formations in combat, almost every enemy tank became a Tiger.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, every German tank was a dreaded Tiger. I have tasted this myself in conversations with WW2 veterans. Even though the Tiger was relatively rare on the European battlefield, most every German tank was reported to be one of the big cats. That is actually fairly understandable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The PzKpfw IV looks a bit like a Tiger. It’s easy to see how this tank could be misidentified in the heat of battle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The most common German tank of the war was the Panzerkampfwagen Mk IV. 8,553 copies rolled off the lines against some 1,347 Tiger I\u2019s. However, the PzKpfw IV looked a bit like a slightly miniaturized Tiger I in dim light. Considering any dismounted GI facing any German tank tended to find himself in stressful circumstances, such confusion is understandable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
This memorial includes a German Mk IV and a Russian T34. The tank-versus-tank combat during the Battle of Kursk was the most intense of the war.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What birthed the Tiger legend was a series of well-publicized engagements relatively early in the war. At a time when Allied tank technology had not kept pace with that of the Wehrmacht, the Tiger did indeed exact a prodigious butcher\u2019s bill. One of those earliest one-sided engagements occurred on July 5, 1943. This was the first day of the Battle of Kursk. Kursk was the largest tank-on-tank engagement in human history and the turning point in the war on the Eastern Front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Setting<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The Germans (red) planned a classic encirclement.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Soviets had pressed deep into territory captured by the Germans and created a salient. The following year in the Ardennes we called it a bulge. Sensing an obvious opportunity, Hitler and his Generals planned a bold counterstroke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
With all of her able-bodied young men off at war, the Germans coveted Russian POWs for their free labor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The plan was to launch simultaneous offensives in the north and south to pinch off the salient, capturing tens of thousands of Russian troops in the process. A bold victory would regain the initiative for the Wehrmacht, while the captured Russians would provide ample slave labor for the German war effort. However, the Russians saw this coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Franz Staudegger became a Nazi hero.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Soviets had ample opportunity to prepare, so they dug countless miles of tank ditches, prepared innumerable defensive antitank positions, and planted nearly a million mines of various flavors. The result was a bloodbath. However, while the big picture is the purview of the policy-makers, today we concern ourselves with the soldier\u2019s eye view. In this case, the star of the show is Oberscharf\u00fchrer (Staff Sergeant) Franz Staudegger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Franz Staudegger took out his first T34 tank during the Battle of Kursk with a hand grenade.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Staudegger was an SS NCO commanding a PzKpfz Mk VI Tiger I. After a day of heavy combat, his Tiger was moving by night to rejoin his unit. Approaching another tank parked in the road, Staudegger saw its commander sitting in his hatch smoking a cigarette. The 20-year-old SS Sergeant dismounted to ask his fellow tank commander to move his vehicle so he could pass. Once he got close to the stationary track he heard Russian voices in the dark and realized it was a Soviet T34. Thinking quickly he primed a hand grenade, jumped up on the side of the enemy tank, and tossed the sputtering bomb down the open hatch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Franz Staudegger singlehandedly destroyed two T34 tanks with hand grenades.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The grenade went off inside the tank, killing the crew. At that moment the crew of a second T34 parked nearby heard the muffled explosion and opened their hatches to investigate. Staudegger quickly ran over to the second T34, armed a grenade, and destroyed it in the same fashion. For singlehandedly destroying two T34\u2019s while dismounted Franz Staudegger earned the Iron Cross First Class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking It Up a Notch\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Despite the dark banner under which he served, Franz Staudegger was an undeniably brave soldier.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So now we should all be in agreement that Franz Staudegger had some simply epic stones. His performance on foot alone in the dark was nothing compared to the mayhem he wreaked from inside his Tiger. Three days later Staudegger helped birth the Tiger legend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The Waffen SS became Hitler’s fire brigade, moving from one hot spot to another stabilizing lines and repulsing Russian attacks.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The 2d SS Panzer Corps consisted of the Leibstandarte, Das Reich, and Totenkopf, arguably the three premiere Panzer divisions in the German order of battle. On July 8, the Russian 10th<\/sup> Tank Corps launched a ferocious assault against the 1st<\/sup> SS Panzer Leibstandarte. At the time of the attack, many of the division\u2019s tanks were deployed elsewhere. When the weight of the Soviet assault fell there were only two German tanks close enough to oppose it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The Tiger could absorb a simply breathtaking amount of punishment. This pockmarked Tiger was still drivable despite its egregious damage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These two Tigers were commanded by Franz Staudegger and Rolf Schamp. Both vehicles had been damaged in combat and were in the process of being repaired. The two tank crews patched up the tracks and running gear sufficiently to get them moving and headed toward the sounds of battle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
The Russian T34 was arguably the finest medium tank of the war. Head to head it was no match for the German Tiger, however.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

With Schamp securing his flank, Staudegger directed his Tiger toward the point of the Soviet breakthrough. They arrived just as the lead Russian vanguard was overrunning the German Infantry\u2019s fighting positions. Rapidly positioning behind cover, Staudegger\u2019s gunner destroyed three Soviet T34\u2019s in rapid succession with armor-piercing shots. Before they could reposition, another two Russian tanks rolled into view, firing as they bore. Staudegger destroyed those two enemy tanks as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Franz Staudegger picked off Russian T34’s like ducks in a shooting gallery.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By now all hell had broken loose, and chaos reigned. Using an embankment for cover, Staudegger maneuvered his heavy tank back and forth to obtain firing solutions as Russian tanks cleared the berm. One after another they ultimately destroyed some seventeen Russian tanks, expending their entire onboard store of armor-piercing rounds. However, the Russian tanks still kept coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Even using suboptimal ammo, the German 88mm gun made short work of attacking T34’s.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Staudegger switched to high-explosive rounds for the massive 88mm gun on the Tiger. While these shells lacked significant armor-piercing capability, the ample HE payload was still adequate to disable and destroy the rampaging T34\u2019s. Now with his tank hit multiple times and his ammunition supply all but gone Staudegger pulled back. He left another five smoking Russian hulks in his wake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tank<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Tiger 131, seen here on display at the Bovington Tank Museum, is the last drivable Tiger left in the world. There are six other inoperable examples still remaining as well.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

First deployed in North Africa in 1942, the Tiger I was Germany\u2019s premiere heavy tank. The PzKpfz Mk VI was the first German armored vehicle to mount the KwK 36 8.8 cm gun derived from the feared Flak 36. This high-velocity weapon was originally designed as an antiaircraft gun but was found to be utterly devastating when turned toward more terrestrial targets. The 88mm KwK could penetrate the frontal armor of any tank in the world at the time of its introduction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Fitting the Tiger I for rail transport required the removal of the outer layer of road wheels on both sides and the fitting of special narrow transport tracks. The tank was otherwise too wide for standard German rail cars and tunnels.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Tiger I was a marvel of martial engineering prowess, but it was grossly over-designed. The wide tracks and interleaved roadwheels slaved to a complex torsion bar suspension offered a smooth ride over rough terrain but made transport by rail a time-consuming, cumbersome process. Additionally, the tank\u2019s massive 63-ton combat weight made it difficult to find civilian bridges that could support its mass.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Both the Tiger I and the Panther used the same V12 Maybach engine.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Tiger I carried a crew of five and also included a pair of MG34 machineguns, one mounted coaxially with the main gun and the other in a ball mount in the hull. The 690-horsepower Maybach HL230 P45 V12 powerplant was one of the most powerful in any armored vehicle at the time, but it still left the Tiger I somewhat underpowered. It also absolutely gulped fuel. Max speed was 28 mph on roads and 12-16 mph cross country. The operational range was 121 miles on roads, and 68 miles off. The Tiger I carried 92 rounds of main gun ammunition and 4,800 rounds of linked 7.92x57mm for the two machine guns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
At 77 short tons, the Mk VII King Tiger was ridiculously massive.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ferdinand Porsche personally christened the Mk VI the Tiger. Production of the Tiger I was phased out in the summer of 1944 in favor of the even more massive Tiger II or King Tiger. Though 489 of these behemoths rolled off the lines by the end of the war, teething troubles kept them from reaching their full potential on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rest of the Story<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Staudegger’s Tiger had absorbed an incredible amount of punishment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By the time Staudegger pulled back the Russians had had enough. His tank had been hit an astounding 67 times by 76mm Russian rounds without significant penetration. In addition to singlehandedly destroying 22 enemy tanks, Staudegger had also broken the back of the Russian tank assault. In the aftermath, Staudegger was awarded the Knight\u2019s Cross to the Iron Cross. He was the first Tiger crewman to be so decorated, but he certainly would not be the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer
Unlike many to most Nazi heroes, Franz Staudegger survived the war.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Despite the horrible twisted darkness of the Nazi regime, there were countless examples of laudable bravery on the part of individual German soldiers serving during World War 2. Michael Wittman gained more notoriety as a Tiger ace, and the exploits of Otto Carius were better documented. However, unlike Wittman, Franz Staudegger survived the war. He returned to Germany afterward and lived a modest, quiet life, ultimately dying in 1995 at age 72. Staudegger and his crew helped lay the foundation for the legend that was the Tiger tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica! All Local Sales are FREE!<\/a>***<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During World War 2 the German Tiger tank earned an outsized reputation among those who faced it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":164121,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[257,772],"tags":[102,752,636,3394,1323],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-164107","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-historical-guns","8":"category-will-dabbs","9":"tag-feature-articles","10":"tag-historical-guns","11":"tag-history","12":"tag-stories","13":"tag-world-war-ii"},"yoast_head":"\nOberscharf\u00fchrer Franz Staudegger and the Origins of the Tiger Legend<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oberscharf\u00fchrer Franz Staudegger and the Origins of the Tiger Legend - Will Dabbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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